Further Reflections on Anthropology and the Black Experience

The Association of Black Anthropologists: A Brief History

“…Black graduate students in the 1960s sought identifiable Afro‐American role models in Anthropology. They were virtually nonexistent in academia before the sixties (Drake 1978, 1984; Harrison 1979a; Steward 1982). Only 13 Blacks earned the doctorate in anthropology before 1980 4 .…”

“…There are several articles on the personal experiences and observations of blacks in anthropology (St. Clair Drake 1978, 1980, 1984; Walker 1982).…”

New Directions in the History of United States Anthropology

“…This critical/reflexive method of rewriting the history of anthropology can be situated within the tradition of vindicationism (cf. Drake 1990), and it followed on the heels of the women's and black studies movements. As a result, one can easily identify why the bulk of these texts has focused on women and African-American anthropologists.…”

The Complicated Career of Hugh Smythe … Anthropologist and Ambassador: The Early Years, 1940–50

“…Hugh Smythe was one of a handful of African Americans to receive a doctorate in anthropology before 1950 and the first African American to acquire a Ph.D. under Herskovits. Although discussions of African American pioneers in anthropology mention Smythe (Drake 1990:2; Harrison and Harrison 1999:9), his story has never been told. He is a fascinating figure whose academic career has much to teach us about the relationships between anthropology, Black intellectuals, and racism at midcentury.…”

“… 7. Black anthropologists trained at the University of Chicago included Mark Hanna Watkins (1920s), Katherine Dunham (1930s), St. Clair Drake (beginning in the 1930s) and Allison Davis (who received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1942 after training under W. Lloyd Davis at Harvard in the 1930s (Drake 1990). The most prominent African American sociologists of the first half of the century—for example, E. Franklin Frazier, Charles Johnson—were trained at the University of Chicago.…”